From Jackson to the Whitney: Public Art with International Reach
Jackson Hole has long been known for its landscapes. Increasingly, it is being recognized for something else: a willingness to engage public space as a place for contemporary, cultural dialogue.
That commitment is receiving national recognition.
Nani Chacon, the Diné (Navajo)artist whose mural Damma Newadaygwapgay Nasoowazeet (Never Forget Our Language) anchors the east wall of the Jackson Hole History Museum, has been invited to participate in the 2026 Whitney Biennial, the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States.
The Whitney Biennial is widely regarded as a bellwether for where American art is headed. The 2026 exhibition will feature 56 artists, duos, and collectives whose work reflects the current moment and explores forms of relationality including cultural lineage, land, language, identity, and shared histories.
Chacon’s Jackson mural exemplifies that trajectory.
Commissioned through a collaboration between Jackson Hole Public Art and History Jackson Hole, the mural functions as a conceptual billboard reclaiming public space for the Eastern Shoshone people, whose ancestors have called this region home for generations. By foregrounding Shoshone language, the work reconnects land, culture, and memory, asserting presence where it has too often been erased.
Chacon collaborated closely with Lynette St. Clair, a Shoshone educator and language specialist from the Wind River Reservation, ensuring the work was not only artistically powerful, but culturally grounded and respectful.
For Jackson Hole Public Art, the Whitney invitation affirms a long-held belief: that ambitious, values-driven public art created with care, collaboration, and community trust, belongs in the national conversation.
“This project reflects what’s possible when public art is treated as community dialogue,” said Carrie Geraci, Executive Director of Jackson Hole Public Art. “Nani’s work speaks locally and resonates nationally because it is rooted in truth, place, and lived experience.”
Displayed on the Jackson Hole History Museum, the mural reclaims public space for Indigenous voices at a site historically shaped by settler narratives, expanding how Jackson understands its past—and whose histories are visible within it.
“The phrase ‘Never Forget Our Language’ is both a reminder and an invitation,” said Morgan Jaouen, Executive Director of the Jackson Hole History Museum. “Language provides knowledge, connection, and context. We are grateful to partner and work together to showcase this message a prominent Museum wall, honoring Shoshone people and their culture – past, present, and future."
Chacon has described this mural as an act of reclamation as much as a work of art. “When you put something in a space, there’s an act of reclamation,” she said, noting that public art has a unique ability to reach people in an intimate and immediate way. “Public art disrupts hierarchies,” Chacon said. “It exists outside walls and admission. Everybody can see it, everybody can understand it, and that’s how we begin to build relationships.”
The mural was made possible through a combination of public and private support, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, Wyoming Arts Council, Wyoming Humanities, Charter Communications, and Ovation TV, along with support from local business sponsors Fighting Bear Antiques, Alpine House, Berning Project Management, and Aufderheide Construction Management.
Additional private support was provided by Mary Armour, Petria and Scott Fossel, Leslye and David Hardie, Kate Jensen, Carrie F. Kirkpatrick DA Fund of CFJH, Marshall and Veronique Parke, Katrina and Brandon Ryan, and Christy Walton.
As Jackson Hole continues to grow and evolve, projects like this underscore a larger truth: public art, when done with intention, can place small communities at the forefront of national cultural conversations.
ABOUT JACKSON HOLE PUBLIC ART
Jackson Hole Public Art (JHPA) forges partnerships for the integration of art into any environment to inspire lasting cultural, educational and economic benefits. JHPA is a non-profit organization and our community’s leading presenter of artist-driven projects in public space. We place artworks outside traditional venues of museums and galleries to provide access to art for all people. JH Public Art provides public art consulting services and collaborates with the Town and County and many local organizations on public art projects.
For more information contact: Carrie Geraci, Executive Director
carrie@jhpublicart.org | 307-413-1474
